FOX and CBS tied for the nightly lead in adults 18-49 and CBS won the night with total viewers.

At 8pm a one hour version of American Idol was down 11% from last week's two-hour episode to a 4.8 adults 18-49 rating. The Big Bang Theory returned after a week off with a 5.1 adults 18-49 rating, down two tenths from two weeks ago but if history is a guide it's likely that both The Big Bang Theory and American Idol see adjustments up in the finals.

Person Of Interest rose to new season highs in adults 18-49 and total viewers and was up three tenths from its last original to a 3.4 adults 18-49 rating, The Mentalist was up two tenths from its last original to a 2.8 adults 18-49 rating. BUT... CBS had preemptions for college basketball and the ratings are more subject to revision in the finals than normal.

NBC's Awake dropped 20% from last week's premiere to a 1.6 adults 18-49 rating at 10pm. Earlier in the night 30 Rock drew another 1.4 adults 18-49 rating, but Parks & Recreation rose 12% to a 1.9 adults 18-49 rating. The Office was up a tenth from last week to a 2.6 adults 18-49 rating and Up All Night was up a tenth to a 1.7 adults 18-49 rating.

In its last Thursday telecast The Finder was up three tenths from its last original to a 2.3 adults 18-49 rating.

In Nielsen's 56 metered markets, household results were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 2.4/6 with an encore telecast; CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman," 2.7/7 with an encore; and ABC's combo of "Nightline," 3.0/7; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 1.4/4 with an encore.

In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, adult 18-49 results were: “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” 0.8/4 with an encore; "Late Show," 0.7/3 with an encore; "Nightline," 0.8/4; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 0.5/3 with an encore.

At 12:35 a.m., "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (1.2/4 in metered-market households with an encore) trailed CBS's original "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (1.3/5). In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, "Late Night" (0.6/4 in 18-49 with an encore) topped "Late Late Show" (0.4/3).

At 1:35 a.m., "Last Call with Carson Daly" averaged a 0.8/3 with an encore in metered-market households and a 0.4/3 in adults 18-49 in the 25 markets with local people meters.

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NOTE: All national ratings are "live plus same day DVR viewing" from Nielsen Media Research unless otherwise indicated.

Fast Affiliate Ratings: These first national ratings, including demographics, are available at approximately 11 AM (ET) the day after telecast, and are released to subscribing customers daily. These data, from the National People Meter sample, are strictly time-period information, based on the normal broadcast network feed, and include all programming on the affiliated stations, sometimes including network programming, sometimes not. The figures may include stations that did not air the entire network feed, as well as local news breaks or cutaways for local coverage or other programming. Fast Affiliate ratings are not as useful for live programs and are likely to differ significantly from the final results, because the data reflect normal broadcast feed patterns. For example, with a World Series game, Fast Affiliate Ratings would include whatever aired from 8-11PM on affiliates in the Pacific Time Zone, following the live baseball game, but not game coverage that begins at 5PM PT. The same would be true of Presidential debates as well as live award shows and breaking news reports.

Rating: Estimated percentage of the universe of TV households (or other specified group) tuned to a program in the average minute. Ratings are expressed as a percent.

Share (of Audience): The percent of households (or persons) using television who are tuned to a specific program, station or network in a specific area at a specific time. (See also, Rating, which represents tuning or viewing as a percent of the entire population being measured.)

Time Shifted Viewing – Program ratings for national sources are produced in three streams of data – Live, Live+Same Day (Live+SD) and Live+7 Day. Time shifted figures account for incremental viewing that takes place with DVRs. Live+Same Day (Live+SD) include viewing during the same broadcast day as the original telecast, with a cut-off of 3:00AM local time when meters transmit daily viewing to Nielsen for processing. Live+7 Day ratings include incremental viewing that takes place during the 7 days following a telecast.